Autos

The 2021 Honda Ridgeline receives a testosterone makeover, morphing from a friendly-looking pickup truck to one that exudes more ruggedness and capability. This is step one of Honda’s new light truck strategy of beefing up—and talking up—the capabilities of its utility vehicles in a world eschewing passenger cars at a rapid pace. Look for the brand’s SUVs to follow suit, too. Honda has not kept up with the trends. Today, light trucks account for 70 percent of new-vehicle sales in the United States. Light trucks, however, account for just 53 percent of Honda’s sales mix. The Japanese automaker still relies heavily on cars, especially those of its Civic and Accord model lines. The redesigned 2021 Ridgeline, which goes on sale early next year, kicks off the br...

While Ram has yet to announce a smaller pickup for the United States (although a rebirth of the Dakota has been long-rumored), the brand is moving forward with a new generation of its 700 compact pickup, which it sells in places such as Mexico. Why 700 and not 750 (exactly half of 1500)? We’re sure Ram has its reasons. Name aside, we wouldn’t mind seeing something like the little Ram 700 in the U.S. Based on the Fiat Strada (another trucklet you’ve probably never heard of), the 700 is only 176 inches long and 69 inches wide, making it two inches shorter and one inch narrower than a BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe. Ram will sell the 700 in three trims, too: SLT, Bighorn, and Laramie. SLT trimmed trucks will come in either a single or double cab body styles, while the Bighorn and L...

Learning to drive may be the biggest rite of passage for any young person, but it’s looking especially memorable for Ken Block’s daughter Lia. After receiving a drop-top Fox Body Mustang for her 14th birthday, she was brought by her father to Utah Motorsports Campus for a day of drifting in the ‘Stang. Earlier this year, Lia Block made donuts look easy in a 355-hp Gymkhana Ford Escort, and that was less than a week after she learned to drive stick. So, this latest adventure must have seemed like a relative walk in the park for the teenager. Because it’s sometimes hard to learn from your parent, Block enlisted Formula Drift Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. to ride shotgun and show her the tricks of the trade. In the middle of the lesson, a coolant leak threatened to r...

The four special editions are the Carhartt Special Edition, Midnight Edition, Z71 Sport Edition, and Z71 Chrome Sport Edition. Seeing these in the wild isn’t too far off; the Carhartt starts production in fall 2020, while the remaining trio is on track to hit dealers in late 2020. See all 18 photos See all 18 photos Chevrolet Silverado HD Carhartt Special Edition The positive response to the Silverado HD Carhartt concept from the 2016 SEMA Show inspired the two Detroit-based companies—Carhartt was founded in 1889 and is known for durable and rugged work apparel, and Chevy, well, you know—to bring a collaboration to production. It starts out as a Silverado 2500 HD LTZ Crew Cab paired with the Z71 Off-Road Package, which includes tuned Rancho shocks, hill-descent control...

Once upon a time, when the Chevy Corvette still located its engine in its nose, it offered an appealing in-between performance trim. The C7 Corvette Grand Sport brought wider fender flares, suspension upgrades, and other performance goodies—essentially marrying the format of the more powerful Z06 with the entry-level Corvette Stingray’s LT1 V-8 engine. But according to a report from GM Authority, the C8 Corvette will skip the Grand Sport version altogether. Sources from within GM apparently told GM Authority that the blank space between the “base” Corvette (as if you could consider the entry-level C8’s spicy performance “basic”) and the expected Z06 model will instead be filled by the E-Ray hybrid. The long-expected E-Ray is anticipated to use the C...

Rivian has a lot on its plate right now, partnering with Ford on a Lincoln-badged electric SUV and preparing its own R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck to enter production late this year. In its free time, seemingly, the upstart electric carmaker has plans to build 100,000 delivery vans for Amazon. From what we can tell in a newly released video, the first Rivian-built van has finally been delivered, and there is a ton of neat features you might not expect to find find on a delivery vehicle. There are a host a new safety features included with the van, too. A 360-degree view camera, various driver assistance aids, and a strengthened driver’s side door all make the van a more safe place for delivery drivers while giving them a better idea of what’s around the van. There are also brigh...

Honda’s CR-V is a staple of one of the most popular vehicle segments in America, the 1997 original having helped start the compact crossover craze back in the late 1990s alongside the Toyota RAV4. It’s familiar, even a little boring—a practical conveyance that might as well be wearing slacks and a dress shirt buttoned all the way up. Well, except for that one time in 1998 . . . when the CR-V really let it all hang out with a one-off convertible model. That’s right, there was a Honda CR-V convertible. It’s not the craziest thing to conceive—at least not at the time. Remember, Toyota was gearing up to sell a two-door, convertible RAV4 around then. The CR-V was a bit weirder, being as it was built from a first-generation four-door CR-V. Only one appears to have be...

Even though Audi has been around since 1969, the brand’s first-ever rear-wheel-drive car came out in 2018. It was the R8 RWS, a limited-edition, less expensive version of the R8 sports car that lacked front drive shafts, weighed a whole lot less than the standard all-wheel-drive model, and had slightly less power. Audi has already repeated the RWS formula with the facelifted R8 that came out last year, but for 2021 the automaker is bringing it stateside as a regular member of the R8 lineup. The rear-drive Audi R8 will once again serve as the entry point to the R8 range, and it will come in both coupe and topless Spyder forms—the latter being an option unavailable on the limited-run R8 RWS last time around. The entry-level, non-Performance-spec Audi R8s are dead for 2021, meaning if y...

The most obvious changes are the brand new driver’s area, the addition of a fully digital driver’s display that the brand is calling the Acura Precision Cockpit, and a brand new central tunnel that contains a drive mode selector much like the one found in the NSX supercar. Another massive screen sits atop the dashboard, revealing a reworked infotainment system that’s more elegant than before. Other photos reveal the new look to the seats. There’s now more detailing in the way of contrasting stitching and piping, as well as intricate quilting. It also looks like there are tiny holes for seat ventilation, too. The leather with the contrasting piping continues into the second (and perhaps even the third) row of the new MDX. See all 6 photos Lastly there’s a look ...

One of the greatest elements of spectatorship in any sport is rivalry. Whether it’s Yankees vs. Red Sox, Bird vs. Johnson, or Borg vs. McEnroe, some of the greatest sporting events in history include this layer of neck-and-neck competition that makes for dramatic victories and upsets. For NASCAR fans of the 1980s, they had already found their undisputed king, Dale Earnhardt. The Kannapolis, North Carolina, native created an empire through his image and his undeniable mastery of stock-car racing. The cowboy hat-wearing, blue-collar poster boy looked like the epitome of what a NASCAR legend should look like. That is, until Jeff Gordon showed up. See all 13 photos Gordon, hailing from Vallejo, California, was everything Earnhardt was not. With a humble demeanor, sleek haircut, and style...